Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-09-16
A PLAGUE OF RABBITS.
THE PROLIFIC RODENT AND THE
SQUATTERS OF AUSTRALIA.

| SQUATTERS OF AUST RAliA.
An InexhaustibIe Supply OF Fresh Food
for the Wild Dog-A Land Where the
Rabbit Is Monarch Of All lie Sur
veys.
Mr.. Howard Wiiloughby. In his entertain
ing and instructive volume, Australian
Sketches" tells us that one tract of the malice
scrub, lying between the colonies of Victoria
and South Australia, covers not less than
5000 square miles-or, In other words,
not much less than half the surface of Scot
land The malice scrub, or bush, is just high
enough to render it impossible for a man on
horseback 20 overlook the top of it, and
within its impenetrable recesses the dingo, or
wild dog of Australia, has found his last
stronghold. Here he was in fair way of
dying out altogether, when, to his inexpressi-
bic delight, a new and inexhaustible supply
OF delicious and easily caught food was fur
nished for his support by the invasion Of his
Businesses by countless swarms of rabbits
The dingo's note by night is compared by
Mr.. Howard Willoughby to "the VOLTS long
howl from Oonalaska's shore" spoken Of by
Thomas Campbell, the poet. whose suggestive
line gives some notion Of the uneasiness en-
gendered among campers out in the bush
when their slumbers are interrupted by the
blood curdling cry Of the disturbers Of the
nights silence and tranquility.
When the rabbit was first imported into
Australia no one foresaw that within twenty
five years the active and prolific rodent would
entail enormous losses on the squatters. Aus
tralia seems to have been created for the pur-
pose of showing with what amazing rapidity
this "httle cuss" can breed. The "lepus cunt
culus" of Button lives and thrives without
water, which, indeed, he abominates, and in
the malice scrub the pure element is almost
unknown. The soil is a mixture Of sand and
dust, and affords admirable opportunities for
the construction of burrows With the ex-
ception of the dingo no indigenous beast or
bird Of prey which selects the rabbit for food
exists at the antipodes No sooner had these
furry little quadrupeds settled down in Vic
toria than the few squatters who were en-
deavoring to turn the malice scrub to account
for agricultural uses gave up the job in de-
spair. In the first place the rabbits devoured
the scanty grass upon which the sheep fed,
and secondly the dingoes, who are the invet-
crate foes of the ovine races, grew more nu-
meruus and strong when rabbits were added
20 their daily "menu.n The consequence was
that the malice went begging in blocks of
100, 900 acres at an annual rental of e5 per
block, and at last the district had to be taken
in hand by the Victorian government, and
long leases were granted to tenants at nomi-
nal rates, on condition that they should de-
stroy 'the vermin"-the title invariably be-
slowed upon rabbits in Australia
THE RABBIT IS WINNING
Tho latest reports inform us that in this
vast and universal struggle for the survival
of the fittest, which is the law of animal life
all over the globe, the rabbit is winning, and
winning easily, in many districts of Australia.
Here and there he is driving man out Of the
bush, and the dingoes are powerless to keep
him in check. The dearth of water, which is
the great curse Of Australia, has no terror for |
his swarming armies, and, strangely enough, |
the ferrets, stoats, and weasels, imported by |
thousands from Europe to thin his numbers,
show an unaccountable propensity for frater- |
nizing with him. Every farm house on the |
edge of the scrub is beset by the mrstelidae. |
who retain their European liking for poultry,
but refuse in some cases to waste time and |
labor upon the comics. their natural enemies
in the old country. The fecundity of rabbits
when six months old, and are capable Of pro-
lucing several itters, varying from five to
twelve in number, within the year. In this
country they have many natural extirpators,
but of these the most active and efficient Is
man. Were it not for the latters sustained
efforts the rabbit would long ago have ex-
PEELED many a farmer from his holding But
the density of our population and the humid
IN nf< coil hi sN I |
without difficulty at home.
In Australia, on the other hand he is mon.
arch of all ne surveys The Eimmera dis
trict and its neighborhood do not contain one
human being for every million of rabbits,
and until the province of Victoria becomes
more densely settled we fear that the rabbit
will maintain his ascendency in many dis
riots. Hundreds of thousands of miles Of
wire netting have been laid down to keep the
little pest out of the sheep ranges and wheat
farms which he threatens with destruction,
but in those which are unprotected with wire
be reigns without a rival Phosphorized or
poisoned oats are scattered in thousands of
bushels, but his armies, countless as the
sands upon the seashore, know no abate-
nent or decline. However hot it may
be, the rabbit, and the rabbit alone
IF all animal worlds, never seems to feel
t The fatal character OF the mistake which
vas committed when he was introduced to
plains where nature, wiser than man, forbade
o plant him, there is no occasion to point
,ut. He will doubtless cost our Australian fel-
ow subjects many millions of pounds before
hey eau keep him under. From statement
'ecently made in the legislative council of
New South Wales, it appears that between
he middle Of 1888 and the end of 1886 sum
nearly to 100000 was paid for
he determination of rabbits, and many
'laims are still unadjusted. in that time
200, 900 head of the destructive rodents were
Killed, and countless swarms persisted from
poison and other causes of which no record
xists. Nevertheless, the area of infested
country is still increasing, and the advisable
" OF further restrictive legislation is now
,nder Observation-Disclosures Telegraph.
What Old Juryman Says.